2021 Generac RG027 Generator - 24 Hour Break in Oil Change - 5W30

[SupremePossum]

Generac RG027-QS Natural Gas Generator, 24 hours were on the clock and I changed the oil. Running had been the weekly 12 mins exercise and a few longer runs

Oil I think is 5W-30, this was the factory oil. However, since this report 1 year ago Generac have actually switched the viscosity on this generator to 5W-20 instead of 5W-30, so its possible it was 5W-20 from the factory

Engine is a 2.4L NA Mitsubishi engine running at 1800RPM, pretty sure its a Mitsubishi 4G64 model

Oiled looked very dirty

I just did the change after this one as well exactly 1 year on the dot, and 25 hours of runtime also (Just by pure chance) so it will be interesting to see how the report looks

I re-filled with Kirkland 5W-30 Synthetic

 

[fantastic]

Looks good for break-in. Do you plan to re-test more in the future?

 

[SupremePossum]

Looks good for break-in. Do you plan to re-test more in the future?

I'll probably do it every change unless I get bored of paying for it. For sure if I do an extended run. I'd like to know just how much over 125 hours I could do during an outage. 125 hours is about 5 days, seems like an unlikely event however shutting down to change the oil and filter would be a pain. The filter location on this unit isn't great either, makes a bit of a mess

 

[SupremePossum]

The other question is, if Generac now decides that 5W-20 is the oil, should I switch? I'm not an expert by any means, but it seems like 5W-30 would be preferable, I'm in Texas where it gets pretty hot

 

[fantastic]

I'll probably do it every change unless I get bored of paying for it. For sure if I do an extended run. I'd like to know just how much over 125 hours I could do during an outage. 125 hours is about 5 days, seems like an unlikely event however shutting down to change the oil and filter would be a pain. The filter location on this unit isn't great either, makes a bit of a mess

In an extended run the only thing to be concerned about would be to keep it topped off until you could change it next. Power is important but that generator doesn't look cheap $$$$. Stay safe.

 

[fantastic]

The other question is, if Generac now decides that 5W-20 is the oil, should I switch? I'm not an expert by any means, but it seems like 5W-30 would be preferable, I'm in Texas where it gets pretty hot

Their both have around the same viscosity when cold. Is this gen. liquid cooled? either one should work. I'm a thicky overall so I'd go with the 5w-30.

 

[SupremePossum]

Yep liquid cooled, 1800RPM. I was dead set on a liquid unit, the 999cc 3600RPM air cooled units seems like they sure would get hot in this heat

Its 27kw rated on Propane, 25kw on Natural gas, and max it will ever get loaded to will be around 13kw with everything on (That would be AC's, Oven, etc)

 

[fantastic]

Yep liquid cooled, 1800RPM. I was dead set on a liquid unit, the 999cc 3600RPM air cooled units seems like they sure would get hot in this heat

Its 27kw rated on Propane, 25kw on Natural gas, and max it will ever get loaded to will be around 13kw with everything on (That would be AC's, Oven, etc)

That is quite a large house generator. Congrats on the install & to know that you'll have some temporary power is good preparation. I was down in TX when the whole cold blast/rolling blackouts hit. It makes me appreciate how we run electric power in MO. It sounds like you're trying to make the best out of those situations.

 

[SupremePossum]

That is quite a large house generator. Congrats on the install & to know that you'll have some temporary power is good preparation. I was down in TX when the whole cold blast/rolling blackouts hit. It makes me appreciate how we run electric power in MO. It sounds like you're trying to make the best out of those situations.

Yeah, I wanted liquid cooled, and the smallest liquid cooled Generac sell is a 22kw. But, the 27kw was just $500 more and had better availability, so in the grand scheme of things its a drop in the bucket, I figured I may as well go for the extra size

I got it right after the freeze, had it installed and they messed up a bunch. I corrected quite a few things and had to call them back to fix some stuff. I bet they installed more generators after that event than ever before

So far so good though! I cross my fingers for a power outage every time there is a storm

 

[hemitom]

1800 r.p.m is really not stressing the engine, not like the air cooled units !
maybe 5w20 is fine ? myself added security 5w30.

 

[dnewton3]

Zowie - that's a big genny for backup power.
What's the CFH consumption on that on NG?

 

[SupremePossum]

Zowie - that's a big genny for backup power.
What's the CFH consumption on that on NG?

Fairly good, its actually more quite a bit more efficient than my neighbors 22kw air cooled unit.

For NG

I have a spreadsheet to calculate gas cost, at my usual load for 24 hours I'm looking at $12 in natural gas

 

[NormanBuntz]

As the owner of a Generac 16kw standby generator (propane) in NC, I stick to 5w-30 synthetic. But my oil gets milky with those short exercise runs.

 

[Rand]

In texas.. definitely stick with 5w30.. even liquid cooled generators can heat the oil up under a load.
if it was air cooled I'd probably use 5w40 in it.

 

[SupremePossum]

I aim to run it for at least 30 mins loaded per month, but life gets in the way and sometimes I forget. Never seen any milk in mine, so maybe it helps. Or the 12 mins exercise time is better. Have you thought about extending yours? I know my neighbors is just 6 mins

I'm using Genmon to control it, so I don't have to go out and flip the breaker to do a loaded test

 

[fantastic]

I'd stick to the 12 minutes vs 6 minutes. Once a week adds up to almost 1 hour a month which is what a gen. needs for off use. My air cooled Onan wants 2 hours a month as an example but it's 30 years old.

 

[SupremePossum]

Yep liquid cooled, 1800RPM. I was dead set on a liquid unit, the 999cc 3600RPM air cooled units seems like they sure would get hot in this heat

Its 27kw rated on Propane, 25kw on Natural gas, and max it will ever get loaded to will be around 13kw with everything on (That would be AC's, Oven, etc)

This comment is now wrong. New car which also will make for a GREAT load bank

 

[fantastic]

Nice, but you may want to keep the juice in the car so it's ready to go if needed. What's the equivalent Torque rating on the Mach?

 

[SupremePossum]

Only 428, but boy does it go! Its as fast as I think I'd ever need.

 

[fantastic]

Only 428, but boy does it go! Its as fast as I think I'd ever need.

The Ford 7.3L V8 "Godzilla" puts out a little over that number & It can tow 16,000 pounds all day. That puts your power into perspective for me anyways. Thanks for sharing that detail. Enough umph to pass quickly lol.